For fans of Holly Black and Nova Ren Suma, a gripping, hauntingly atmospheric novel about murder, revenge, and a world where monsters—human and otherwise—lurk at the fringes.

When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.

Tense, complex, and wholly engaging, Shallow Graves is a stunning first novel from Kali Wallace.

I love Nova Ren Suma so I wasn't surprised that I really enjoyed this book. Would you get up from the grave to find your murderer? When Breezy wakes up, she knows that she was dead and she knows that she was killed. That has to be a harsh realization and I think that I, personally, would be really mad and sad. She recovers nicely, however, and searches for her murderer. In a lot of ways, Breezy is a normal teenage girl with typical teenage worries. She has a new talent though-she can sense murderers. Along the way, she makes new friends, some are paranormal and some are not. The novel is filled with intense situations and Breezy making quick, desperate choices.

I liked Breezy's character. I felt bad for her and her untimely demise, but if I was murdered I think it might be nice to find out who and why. Parts of the book read like a mystery while others resembled a thriller. I enjoyed getting to know the secondary characters and how some fit into the plot. The cult chasing after Breezy scared me; I spent a lot of the book worried that Breezy was going to lose her undead life. This book would make a fun read for anyone who enjoys horror/thriller/mystery.

Kali Wallace studied geology and geophysics before she decided she enjoyed inventing imaginary worlds as much as she liked researching the real one. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, F&SF, Asimov's, Lightspeed Magazine, and Tor.com. Her first novel will be published by Katherine Tegen Books in 2016. She lives in southern California.